Thursday, December 30, 2010

Holiday Wrap-Up

Yes, I know the date is wrong - that is how long it has taken me to finish this post!

There were a whole bunch of things I planned on blogging about during the holiday season, but I just didn't get around to all of them. So here are some pictures and brief descriptions.

I spearheaded a Primary nativity for our ward Christmas party. I tried to keep it as simple as possible and to include as many kids as possible. Our Primary is pretty big and tons of kids came, so it was definitely good that my mom has been saving up nativity costumes for years.

After the craziness of getting all the kids dressed and organized, we were about to make our way to the stage when a four year old shepherd let out a fountain of vomit, splashing my shoe, but luckily none of the other kids. Oh, that poor little guy. The show must go on, right? After the hustle and bustle, I could barely think straight and neglected to get any decent pictures. See Colin the wiseman with his cousins Santi and Evan? I didn't even manage to get my kids completely dressed in their costumes. Poor Colin and Gabe, without even headgear.

When the lunar eclipse coincided with winter solstice, I told Chad would should set the alarm for 2:30 am, get up, make some wishes, and have some hot cocoa. He basically replied that I was crazy. I happened to wake up at the right time, by myself, so I jetted outside. It was too cloudy to see the moon, but the sky was a lovely (if eery) color. Chad woke up too, but stayed in bed, so he missed the sleep and the eclipse. HAHA.

Colin and Gabe had their piano recital. I didn't bother to try and figure out the video function on my camera beforehand, so the videos I have of them playing are bad. Gabe played Up On The Housetop, and Colin played Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Oliver screamed during a lovely young woman's turn and had to be taken outside. 2 out of 3 making me proud isn't bad.

I was obsessed with peppermint this season. Edy's Peppermint Ice Cream is the just the best thing ever. That's "Dreyer's" for you West Coast peeps. I'm also quite fond of the peppermint oreos, which are packaged as Candy Cane Oreos at Walmart and Peppermint Oreos at Target. Or maybe the other way around. Weird. Anyway, I made this chocolate cake, topped it with ganache, and then topped that with crushed candy canes. It was really good, especially chilled. I got the recipe years ago from the author of 101 Things to Do with a Cake Mix, Stephanie Ashcraft. I used to visit-teach her. I watched her kids once while she was working on finishing this book.

Is that your typical chocolate cake or a new recipe that you need to share?? That cake would be good TOPPED with that peppermint ice cream :) Why is peppermint only popular around Christmas time? I love March because McDonalds always has their Shamrock shakes. Yum!